Wife Murder Cases

Blount County, AL

Bill Wilson

Late 1908

In 1908, Bill Wilson's wife, Jenny, divorced and left him. She took their 19-month-old child with her. In 1912, the skeletal
remains of an adult and child were discovered by the Warrior River. As
news of the discovery spread, many area residents, presuming the remains to
be ancient, visited the site in the hope of finding Indian relics.Read More by Clicking Here

Coffee County, AL

George White

Feb 27, 1985 (Enterprise)

Both George W. White and his wife Charlene were shot multiple
times by a masked gunman. George survived but Charlene died. Sixteen
months later George was charged with the murder of his wife. Following a
trial that was later characterized as a mockery and a sham, George was
convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In 1989, the conviction was
overturned after George spent over 27 months in prison. In 1992, the charge
was dismissed after proof of George's innocence surfaced. George is a
co-founder of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and
served on the board of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation from 1994
to 1998. (Journey
of Hope)
(Justice: Denied) [6/05]

Marshall County, AL

Randall Padgett

Aug 17, 1990

Larry Randall Padgett was sentenced to death for the murder of
his estranged wife, Cathy Padgett. Cathy had been stabbed 46 times,
after an apparent rape. DNA tests showed that Randall's semen was
found in Cathy's body. The defense argued that a neighbor, Judy
Bagwell, with whom Randall had been having an affair, killed Cathy, and put
Randall's semen inside her. Blood was found at the scene of the crime
that did not match Cathy's. The prosecution withheld blood typing
tests done on this blood from the defense. Following Randall's
conviction, it was determined that the blood did not match Randall's, and
thus had to have come from a third person. In 1995, the Court of
Criminal Appeals overturned Randall's conviction, ruling that prosecutors
didn't give the defense adequate time to review the blood evidence. Randall was acquitted on retrial in 1997. (PC)
[7/05]

Mobile County, AL

Donnie Mays

Apr 12, 2001 (Mobile)

Donnie Mays was convicted of the murder of his wife Kaye. On the day of Kaye's death, Donnie, who worked for American General Auto
Finance, received a phone call from corporate headquarters telling him that
someone had forged his signature on expense reports. Kaye subsequently
admitted she had forged Donnie's signature. Not knowing the severity
of the wrongdoing or that Kaye had actually stolen money from his employer,
Donnie suggested they call his boss, Jim Martin, whom both Donnie and Kaye
were close to. However, Kaye decided it would be best to wait until
the following morning.Read More by Clicking Here

Shelby County, AL

Patrick Swiney

Dec 10, 1987

Patrick Swiney was convicted of murdering his wife, Betty Snow
Swiney, and her ex-husband, Ronald Pate. One night, when Swiney was
approaching his house, he blacked out, stating that he felt as though he'd
been hit on the head with a baseball bat. He awoke in his house with a
serious bruise on his head and with the rifle he kept in his truck lying
near him. He found his wife and her ex-husband lying on the floor, shot dead
with bullets assumed to have been fired from the rifle.Read More by Clicking Here

Kern County, CA

Patrick Dunn

July 1, 1992

Patrick Dunn was convicted in 1993 of murdering his wealthy
wife, Sandy. Sandy and Pat Dunn had threatened to sue Bakersfield city
officials for legitimate reasons over an aborted real estate project. Sandy
also had despised most of her relatives and explicitly disinherited them in
her will. Some city officials and relatives found reason to falsely accuse
Pat for their own benefit. Pat stood to gain more financially if Sandy
lived. A heroin addicted informant lied about seeing Pat put a body in his
truck in order to get a lenient plea deal. Dunn is still imprisoned as of
2005. The case is the lead story in
Mean Justice, a 1999 book by Pulitzer Prize winning author
Edward Humes. [7/05]

San Bernardino County, CA

William Richards

Aug 10, 1993 (Hesperia)

“William Richards was wrongly convicted in July 1997 of
murdering his wife on August 10, 1993. He was sentenced to 25 yrs. to life
in prison. Richards' conviction was after he had two trials end in hung
juries. The prosecution's case was largely circumstantial, based on the
fact that Richards was the person who found her body after he got off work. An expert also testified that a ‘bite mark’ on her [hand] was consistent
with Richards' bite. In 2001 the California Innocence Project became
involved in his case and in the fall of 2007 DNA testing of skin scrapings
of the killer recovered from underneath his wife's fingernails excluded
Richards. Richards filed a state habeas petition for a new trial based on
among other things, the DNA evidence and the prosecution's bite mark expert
repudiated his trial testimony as mistaken -- since the mark on her hand may
not have been a bite. An evidentiary hearing was held on January 26, 2009. On August 10, 2009 San Bernardino County Judge Brian McCarville overturned
Richards conviction, saying that the new evidence pointed ‘unerringly to
innocence.’ Richards was exonerated after 16 years of incarceration, 4
prior to his conviction and 12 afterwards.” –
FJDB
(F)

Santa Clara County, CA

David Lamson

May 30, 1933 (Palo Alto)

David A. Lamson, an advertising manager for Stanford
University Press, was convicted of murdering his wife, Allene. Lamson's
wife died in the bathroom of the couple's house after either being struck or
falling and hitting some object. The Lamsons lived at 622 Salvatierra
Street in Palo Alto. The case received much press attention. At Lamson's
trial the defense was unprepared to rebut an alleged “love triangle” motive
for the killing. After being convicted, Lamson was sentenced to death. Lamson won a retrial in 1934, but that trial led to a hung jury. A third
trial was aborted due to jury list irregularities. Lamson's fourth trial
also led to a hung jury. The prosecution then decided to drop the case
against Lamson and he was released. Lamson wrote a book about his case
entitled We Who Are About To Die. (Stanford
Mag) (MOJ)
[7/07]

Stanislaus County, CA

Scott Peterson

Dec 24, 2002 (Modesto)

Scott Peterson was sentenced to death for the murders of his
pregnant wife, Laci, and his unborn son, Connor. The prosecution
argued that Scott killed Laci late on Dec. 23, 2002 or early on the morning
of Dec. 24. A neighbor saw Scott in the bed of his truck, which was
backed in his driveway, around 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 24. It was alleged
that he was loading Laci's body into it. Cell phone records establish
that he left his Modesto residence at 523 Covena Ave. around 10:08 a.m. to
go to a warehouse at 1027 N. Emerald Ave., where his boat was stored. The warehouse is 9 minutes away.Read More by Clicking Here

Washington, DC

Jay Lentz

Apr 23, 1996

(Federal Case) Thirty-one-year-old Doris Faye Lentz
disappeared on Apri1 23, 1996 after telling a friend she was driving from
her Arlington, VA home to pick up her 4-year-old daughter, Julia, at her
ex-husband's home in Fort Washington, MD. Her ex-husband, Jay E. Lentz
was a naval intelligence officer. Doris was once an aide to Senator
James Sasser of Tennessee. Doris's blood spattered automobile was
found a week after her disappearance in southeast Washington, DC. Federal prosecutors suspected Jay murdered her. They did not have
sufficient evidence to bring murder charges against him as there was no
body, no weapon, no eyewitnesses, and no crime scene.Read More by Clicking Here

Polk County, FL

Andrew Golden

Sept 13, 1989

Andrew Golden was convicted and sentenced to death for the
drowning murder of his wife, Ardelle. Golden's rented car was found
submerged in Lake Hartridge at the end of a boat ramp. The body of his wife
was found floating in the lake. Although the medical examiner had concluded
that there was no evidence of foul play, the prosecution argued that Golden
was in debt and stood to collect on a life insurance policy if his wife were
to die. There was no eyewitness testimony, no confession, and no other
evidence tending to show that Golden's wife had been murdered by anyone. Golden's lawyer did little to prepare for trial, having assumed that the
case would be thrown out before trial. He did not argue that Ardelle may
have committed suicide, having been depressed over the recent death of her
father. He did not tell the jury about the four death notices of her father
that Ardelle had with her in the car. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court
reversed the conviction, holding that there was simply no evidence on which
to base the conviction. Golden was exonerated of all charges and released
in 1994. (FLCC) (DPIC) (Golden
v. State) [12/06]

Fulton County, GA

Weldon Wayne Carr

Apr 7, 1993 (Sandy Springs)

Weldon Wayne Carr was convicted of the arson-murder of his
wife in 1993. A trained dog purportedly found evidence that an accelerant
was used to start the fire. Prosecutors said Carr had discovered his wife
was having an affair and alleged that he knocked her unconscious before
setting their house on fire. The jury acquitted Carr of assault. In 1997,
the Georgia Supreme Court overturned Carr's conviction and the Court ordered
a new trial. Carr was released on bond in 1998. In June 2004, the Georgia
Supreme Court ordered the charges dropped because the prosecution had not
initiated a retrial after six years. The prosecution was unable to find an
expert to support their theory of the crime. (Atlanta
JC) [7/05]

Cook County, IL

Michael J. Synon

Feb 26, 1900

Michael J. Synon was sentenced to death for the of murder of
his wife. She was beaten to death in their Chicago residence at 240 S.
Green St. Synon's ten-year-old son testified against him. In 1901, it was
proven that Synon was four miles away from the scene of his wife's murder
and he was released. [7/05]

Cook County, IL

Madison Hobley

Jan 6, 1987

A fire broke out in Madison Hobley's apartment building early
in the morning, which killed his wife, infant son, and five other people. Hobley escaped wearing only underwear. Later in the day, detectives
picked him up and tortured him in an attempt to extract a confession that he
started the fire. When torture did not work, four detectives asserted
that Hobley made a confession. No record of this confession existed. One detective claimed to have made notes but threw them away after something
spilled on them.

The prosecution claimed that Hobley had bought $1 worth of
gasoline, which he used to start the fire. They produced a gasoline
can allegedly found at the fire scene, but a defense expert pointed out that
it showed no exposure to the high heat of the fire, as its plastic cap was
undamaged. After trial, the defense learned that a second gasoline can
was found at the fire scene but police destroyed it after the defense issued
a subpoena for it.

In addition, post-conviction affidavits of jurors stated that
non-jurors intimidated some of them while they were sequestered at a hotel,
and that they were prejudiced by the acts of the jury foreperson, a police
officer, who believed Hobley was guilty. The affidavits also stated
that jurors brought newspapers with articles about the case into the jury
room and that they repeatedly violated the trial court's sequestration. In 2003, Gov. George Ryan granted Hobley a pardon based on innocence.
(CWC)
[9/05]

Floyd County, IN

David Camm

Sept 28, 2000 (Georgetown)

David Camm, a former Indiana state trooper, was convicted in
2002 of the murders of his wife Kimberly, daughter Jill, 5, and son Bradley,
7. Inside the garage of the Camm residence, the children had been shot to
death while sitting in the back seat of the family's Ford Bronco. Kim was
shot to death next to the Bronco. The residence was on Lockhart Road in
Georgetown, IN.Read More by Clicking Here

Berrien County, MI

Mickey Davis

Oct 6, 1995 (Benton Harbor)

Mickey Lee Davis was convicted of murder for allegedly
shooting to death his wife, Priscilla, in her parent's home. Priscilla's Certificate of Death stated that she died at 7:15 p.m. in Benton
Harbor, but cell phone records indicate that at 7:01 p.m., Davis made a
two-minute phone call from Paw Paw, 27 miles away.

Prior to trial, the state's key witness, Melissa Peters,
recanted her statements against Davis at a court hearing. She said,
“Mickey Davis over there had nothing to do with this. Okay? I'm
sorry, everything that I have said has not been the truth. I have to now say
everything that has happened. Every one of my statements needs to be
removed. They are not true.” Upon hearing this recantation, the
prosecution stopped the hearing, despite defense objections, and asked for a
continuance. It received a continuance and at later hearings,
including Davis's trial, Peters resumed her original testimony. Peters, who was known to be 17-years-old six months before the murder, also
testified she had never previously been in trouble, never been arrested, or
convicted of any crime. The prosecution withheld evidence from the
defense that she had a criminal history in several states as a juvenile.
(MLDS)
(JD)
[3/07]

Wayne County, MI

Lonnie Jenkins

Oct 15, 1931

Lonnie Jenkins was convicted of the murder of his wife. Initially a Coroner's jury found that Mrs. Jenkins had committed suicide by
shooting herself. However, Jenkins was later arrested for her murder. At
trial a 17-year-old girl who lived at the Jenkins' home testified she had
written his wife's suicide note at his dictation. Jenkins' daughter (who
was 12 at the time of the shooting) later brought the note to the attention
of FBI experts who determined the handwriting on the note was that of Mrs.
Jenkins. Jenkins conviction was vacated in Dec. 1940; he was released after
serving 9 years in prison. (The
Innocents) (News
Article) (Photo)
[12/10]

Wayne County, MI

Walter A. Pecho

June 9, 1954 (Detroit)

“Walter A. Pecho [an Oldsmobile plant worker] was wrongly
accused and convicted of murdering his wife [Eleanor] after he called police
to report that she had committed suicide by shooting herself with a shotgun. He was convicted on the testimony of the prosecution's pathologist erroneous
conclusion that Pecho's wife didn't commit suicide. In 1950 he was
pardoned by Michigan [Governor] Mennen Williams and freed after 6 years
imprisonment when his wife's ring fingerprint was found on the trigger guard
of the shotgun.” –
FJDB (Time)

Christian County, MO

George Revelle

Sept 28, 1994

George S. Revelle, the CFO of Ozark Bank, was convicted of
murdering his wife, Lisa, at their home in Fremont Hills. Revelle told
authorities that intruders broke into their home and shot his wife in a
bungled extortion attempt. He was convicted because he had a $500,000
life insurance policy on his wife and an old letter in which she criticizes
him for being materialistic.

Five months into the investigation, the apparent murderers
sent a confession letter to police. They said they were fugitives living
outside the U.S. They stated George's stepbrother had originally approached
them about kidnapping George and forcing him to go to his bank so they could
rob it. The letter writers revealed the location of a pond where the murder
weapon was found. The prosecutor never investigated any of this evidence,
except to test the stamp on the letter envelope for Revelle's DNA.

Revelle's conviction was overturned in Nov. 1997 because an
appeal's court found that his wife's note should not have been allowed as
trial evidence. On retrial in Dec. 1998, Revelle was acquitted.
(Beyond the Yellow Ribbon)
(Archives)
[4/08]

Clay County, MO

Clarence Dexter, Jr.

Nov 18, 1990 (KC North)

Clarence Dexter, Jr. was convicted of murdering his wife of 22
years, Carol. Police overlooked evidence that the murder occurred in the
course of a botched robbery and decided that Dexter must have committed the
crime. Dexter's trial lawyer, who was in poor health and under federal
investigation for tax fraud, failed to challenge blood evidence presented at
trial. The conviction was overturned in 1997 because of prosecutorial
misconduct. The defense then had the blood evidence carefully examined and
showed that the conclusions presented at trial were completely wrong. The
state's blood expert admitted that his previous findings overstated the case
against Dexter. On the eve of Dexter's retrial in 1999, the prosecution
dismissed the charges and Dexter was freed. [9/05]

Lancaster County, NE

Darrel Parker

Dec 14, 1955 (Lincoln)

Darrel F. Parker was convicted of the strangulation murder of
his 22-year-old wife, Nancy Parker. The murder occurred at the
Parkers' home in Lincoln's Antelope Park. Parker, then 24, confessed
to the crime under alleged coercion. In the confession Parker said he
strangled his wife after she refused to have sex following breakfast. Parker's defense argued that the murder had to have been committed by a
sexual psychopath, while psychiatrists testified that Parker was not a
psychopath. Years later Parker's conviction was overturned because a
court found his confession was coerced. He was released in 1972. In 1988, Wesley Peery, an early suspect in the crime, died. His lawyer
subsequently released his confession to the crime. (Presumed
Guilty) (Archives) (Appeals)
[4/08]

Clark County, NV

David Ruffa

Feb 7, 2002 (Henderson)

David Ruffa was convicted of murdering his estranged wife,
Shao Lei. Pre-trial DNA tests exonerated him and implicated an unknown
person. Police and prosecutors refused to pursue this result and request
DNA samples from other possible suspects. Instead they prosecuted Ruffa on
the theory that he may have accompanied or hired the hands-on killer. Even
without the DNA exoneration, the circumstantial case against Ruffa was weak
and largely refuted by defense evidence. However, Ruffa was convicted and
sentenced to life in prison. (TruthInJustice) (Defense
Blog) [3/07]

Atlantic County, NJ

Jim Andros

Apr 1, 2001 (Pleasantville)

Jim Andros, an Atlantic City police officer, was charged with
suffocating his wife. Twenty months later charges were dropped after
prosecutors concluded she died of a rare heart condition. (NY
Times) [9/05]

Essex County, NJ

Bill MacFarland

Oct 17, 1911 (Newark)

William Allison MacFarland, also known as “Bill,” took cyanide
home from the plant where he worked. He used it to make a solution of
the poison for his wife, who had used it to clean her jewelry and
silverware. Bill explained he had taken an almost empty bromide bottle and
poured the contents into another bromide bottle, which was almost full. He
then funneled the poison solution into the now empty bromide bottle. To
avoid any possible confusion, he affixed a poison label on the bromide
bottle containing the cyanide. Bill then placed both bottles on a bathroom
shelf.Read More by Clicking Here

Essex County, NJ

Raffaelo Morello

1918

Raffaelo E. Morello, a recent immigrant to the U.S., was
convicted of murdering his wife in 1918. His wife of a few months had
threatened to commit suicide if he left her to answer a draft call for
service in the World War, but Morello ignored her and his wife carried out
her threat. Morello explained through an interpreter that he was
responsible for his wife's death by his insistence on becoming a soldier. However, his remarks were misunderstood to merely mean that he was
responsible for killing his wife. In prison after he learned to express
himself well in English, he told his story to welfare workers who launched
an investigation into his conviction. In 1926 this investigation resulted
in him being pardoned of the crime. (NY
Times) [8/10]

Eddy County, NM

Johnny Volpato

Feb 5, 1980 (Carlsbad)

“Shortly before midnight on February 5, 1980, Johnny Volpato
pulled up to The Corner Drugstore, which he owned, in downtown Carlsbad.
Sitting beside him in his late-model Datson was his 36-year-old wife,
Elaine. The after-hours drugstore run wasn't unusual for the pharmacist,
father of two, and rising local political star. Volpato often opened his
drug store at all hours to fill customers' emergency prescriptions. In fact,
he even ran ads in the local newspaper with his home phone number so that he
could be reached at any time.Read More by Clicking Here

Cumberland County, NC

Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald

Feb 17, 1970

(Federal Case) Army Captain Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted
of the murder of his wife Collette, 26, and the murders of two daughters,
Kimberly, 5, and Kristen, 2. According to MacDonald, he and his family were
attacked by intruders to their home at 544 Castle Drive in Fort Bragg, a
U.S. military base. MacDonald survived with wounds including a collapsed
lung. MacDonald was acquitted of the murders at a Ft. Bragg Army hearing
and probably would not have been tried again had he not angered the
prosecution by criticizing them during interviews on national TV. MacDonald's Army acquittal meant that he could not be court-martialed, but
he could still be tried in federal court and he was. Before his federal
trial MacDonald invited author Joe McGinniss on his defense team to write a
book and hopefully help to establish his factual innocence. At that trial
MacDonald was unfortunately convicted.Read More by Clicking Here

Cuyahoga County, OH

Dr. Sam Sheppard

July 4, 1954

After an intruder entered his home, and brutally murdered his
wife, Marilyn, Dr. Sam Sheppard was accused and convicted of the crime. The Sheppard home was in Bay Village on the shore of Lake Erie. Sheppard had an affair some months before and this was portrayed as a
motive. Sheppard had some wounds from the real assailant but the
prosecution claimed these were self-inflicted. Sheppard described the
assailant as a bushy haired man and other witnesses claimed to have seen
him. Although its creator denied it, the 1963 TV series, The
Fugitive, was widely thought to be based on this case, due to obvious
similarities.

Sheppard's defense was not allowed access to forensic evidence
prior to trial. When examined after trial, it found that Marilyn had
apparently bitten her assailant as one of her teeth was broken outward, and
that the killer must have been splattered with blood as the bedroom walls
were all splattered except for a spot that was shielded by the assailant's
body. Apart from a small spot, Sheppard had no blood on him, nor any
bite marks. Backswing blood spatter indicated the assailant swung his
weapon with his left hand, while Sheppard was right-handed. Appeals
based on this new evidence were denied. Eventually a young lawyer
named F. Lee Bailey got interested in the case, took it to the U.S. Supreme
Court, and had the conviction overturned. Sheppard was acquitted on
retrial in 1966, but died at age 46 in 1970. DNA tests in the 1990's
revealed the assailant was a mentally ill man who had once worked at the
Sheppard home. (American
Justice) [9/05]

Franklin County, OH

Kevin Tolliver

Dec 29, 2001

Kevin Alan Tolliver, a black man, was convicted of murdering
Claire Schneider, his white live-in girlfriend. According to Tolliver,
Schneider killed herself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although
she was clinically depressed and had not taken her Paxil medicine in 4 days,
Schneider's shooting of herself in the mouth, happened so unexpectedly that
it appeared to be an involuntary suicide. She may not have been aware
that the gun was loaded. The shooting occurred shortly after midnight.

Tolliver was a severe dyslexic since childhood, and
emotionally went to pieces following his girlfriend's death. He
screamed and cried. Two neighbors in his building, hearing his screams
called police, but police came and left without finding the source of the
disturbance. Police finally were summoned back by Tolliver's ex-wife,
more than an hour after the shooting. Police arrested Tolliver
immediately and performed no investigation. They did not test either
Tolliver's or Schneider's hands for gunshot residue.

The coroner was prepared to rule that Schneider's death was
self-inflicted, until the police gave their theory. He still ruled
that her death was undetermined. The prosecution argued murder and Tolliver
was convicted because of ineffective defense and the perjured testimony of a
jailhouse snitch. Tolliver is serving 16 years to life imprisonment.
(Free KT) [4/08]

Warren County, OH

Ryan Widmer

Aug 11, 2008

Ryan Widmer was convicted of murder for the bathtub drowning
of his wife, Sarah Widmer. The drowning occurred at the Widmer's home in
Hamilton Township. Police testified that when found, Sarah's body was drier
that it should have been according to story given to them by Ryan. This
alleged discrepancy was basically the sole evidence against Ryan. There was
no known motive and no evidence that either Sarah or Ryan engaged in a
struggle. Sarah's family did not believe the charges against Ryan and held
up Sarah's funeral so Ryan could attend. Friends and family said Ryan had
no known history of getting angry. They also said Sarah was known to spend
hours in the bathtub and that she habitually fell asleep, even as she sat in
a car on her way to social outings or during movies. It is possible that
Sarah suffered from an undiagnosed seizure disorder or narcolepsy. Some
jurors at Ryan's trial engaged in apparent misconduct by conducting their
own drying time experiments. (freeryanwidmer.com) (Archives)
[6/09]

Osage County, OK

Gregory Wilhoit

May 31, 1985 (Tulsa)

Gregory Ralph Wilhoit was convicted of murdering his estranged
wife, Kathryn, and sentenced to death. The prosecution presented evidence
that the bite mark found on his dead wife came from Wilhoit's teeth and that
there was a rare type of bacteria found around the bite mark that traced
back to Wilhoit. The conviction was overturned for attorney incompetency
because Wilhoit's counsel had suffered brain damage in an accident a year
before trial and was abusing alcohol and prescription drugs. Wilhoit was
released in 1991. At retrial in 1993, his defense had 11 forensic
ondontologists refute the bite mark findings. They also stated that the
“rare” bacteria were quite common. Wilhoit was acquitted. (PC)
[7/05]

Allegheny County, PA

John Dolenc

July 8, 1975 (Mt. Lebanon)

John Dolenc was convicted of murdering his wife, Patricia. The couple had separated for a week, but agreed to meet in Bridgeville on
Saturday night, July 5. Dolenc said Patricia did not show up. The
prosecution argued that she did show up, and Dolenc murdered her that
night. Dolenc spent that night barhopping in Bridgeville with his uncle. He was able to prove that he had been at some bars, although police did not
check them all. Even if they did, the prosecution later argued that he
would have had time to murder his wife between some of the visits.Read More by Clicking Here

Union County, SC

Roger Dedmond

Mar 1967 (Gaffney)

Roger Dedmond was convicted of murdering his wife, Lucille,
because of a police officer's testimony that he confessed. Three months
after his sentencing another man, Lee Roy Martin, confessed to the murder
and led police to the personal belongings of all his victims including
Lucille's car keys. Martin was known as the “Gaffney Strangler” after
having been charged in the strangulation deaths of three other Gaffney
women. Dedmond was subsequently released. [10/05]

Gray County, TX

Hank Skinner

Dec 31, 1993 (Pampa)

Henry Watkins Skinner, also known as Hank, was convicted of
bludgeoning to death his live-in girlfriend, Twila Busby, and stabbing to
death her two sons, Randy Busby and Scooter Caler. Hank was sentenced
to death. The murders occurred at 801 East Campbell Ave. in Pampa. Hank, then 31, had been drinking earlier in the evening and passed out after
taking codeine to which he was severely allergic. A friend, Howard
Mitchell, arrived to take Hank and Twila to a New Year's Eve Party at 9:30
p.m., but he could not rouse Hank.Read More by Clicking Here

Harris County, TX

Robert Fratta

Nov 9, 1994

Robert Alan Fratta was convicted in 1996 of arranging his
wife's murder. He was sentenced to death. Fratta had been in
divorce proceedings with his wife. To gain custody of their children,
his wife had made allegations of sexual perversion involving bathroom
activities. The murder trial prosecutor used these allegations in an
attempt to prejudice the jury. Fratta had no opportunity to confront
the allegations, as he could not cross-examine the person who made them. Even in regard to living witnesses, Fratta's trial judge openly denied
Fratta's Sixth Amendment right to confront his accusers. The judge
permitted hearsay testimony from a police officer that an alleged
co-conspirator had implicated himself and Fratta in the crime. Another
witness testified to incriminating statements made by the alleged
co-conspirator and a second alleged co-conspirator. Fratta's defense
tried to call these alleged co-conspirators to refute the hearsay testimony,
but the judge would not allow them to be called. (ODR)
[11/07]

Harris County, TX

Robert Angleton

Apr 16, 1997

Robert Angleton, also known as Bob, was a bookie who took bets
on sporting events. He was charged with murdering his 46-year-old
wife, Doris. Following the murder, Bob told police that he suspected
his brother Roger was the killer. Despite Roger's checkered past, Bob
had employed him in 1989. He fired him less than a year later. After being fired, Roger felt Bob owed him $200,000 and even tried to rob
him of it at gunpoint. Roger then threatened to put Bob out of
business, by reporting him to the IRS. Bob ignored him, but Roger
started making phone calls to customers, posing as an IRS agent.Read More by Clicking Here

Lubbock County, TX

Butch Martin

Feb 25, 1998

Garland Leon Martin, also known as Butch, was convicted of the
arson murders of his common law wife, Marcia Pool, her son, Michael Brady
Stevens, age 3, and their joint daughter, Kristen Rhea Martin, age 1. The three died in a fire at the home they shared with Martin. The
conviction was based in large part on a hypothesis that accelerants were
used to start the fire. Some samples from fire remnants in the master
bedroom reportedly tested positive for Norpar and deparaffinated kerosene.

Norpar can be used as lamp oil and deparaffinated kerosene can
be found in lighter fluid, but they are also common chemicals found in
numerous household products. Experts dispute the supposition that
these chemicals indicate the presence of accelerants and are petitioning to
check the state's evidence that the alleged chemicals were even found. A defense investigator thought the fire started on the back porch rather
than in the master bedroom near the back door. He criticized original
investigators for discounting and then disposing of an electrical cord that
was used to connect a refrigerator on the back porch to an outlet inside the
house. He thought the fire marshal was looking for arson from the
outset. (IP
Arson) [7/07]

Snohomish County, WA

Jerry Jones, Jr.

Dec 3, 1988 (Bothell)

Jerry Jones, Jr. was convicted of murdering his wife, Lee. An
intruder had entered his home and stabbed his wife at least 36 times. Jones
intercepted the intruder before he ran off, and in trying to take away the
intruder's knife, Jones cut tendons in his hand. Following the attack Jones
behaved strangely, having gone into shock. He gave 911 dispatchers his old
address where he lived for 5 years. The prosecution portrayed such behavior
as suspicious. A neighborhood boy is an alternate suspect, who lied about
his alibi and whose statements and later criminal record fully justify his
being regarded as a suspect. Jones's daughters fully support their father's
innocence in the murder of their mother. Jones's conviction was overturned
twice, but he acted as his own attorney at his third trial and was
reconvicted. (Justice:
Denied) (48
Hours) [11/05]

Snohomish County, WA

Indle King

Sept 22, 2000

Indle Gifford King, Jr. was convicted of murdering his
20-year-old mail order bride, Anastasia Solovieva, who was from Krygyzstan
in the former Soviet Union. King had met Anastasia through a magazine
that advertised foreign women to prospective American men. A boarder,
Daniel Larson, who rented a room in King's house, led police to her shallow
grave. At the time Larson had been arrested for sexually assaulting a
Ukrainian immigrant teenager. Larson said King had told him he
murdered Anastasia and showed him where he buried her body. Larson
later claimed he murdered King's wife under orders from King. King had
no criminal record while Larson had a history of violence, sexual assault,
and mental illness. In addition, Larson wrote a letter to a cult
leader, Christopher Turgeon, in which he stated that he killed Anastasia
alone.Read More by Clicking Here

Brown County, WI

John Maloney

Feb 10, 1998 (Green Bay)

John Maloney, a detective in the Green Bay PD, and an arson
investigator, was convicted of strangling his estranged wife, Sandy, and
setting her body on fire. Maloney was a suspect because of their
impending divorce, ongoing child custody battle, and history of domestic
disputes. Sandy was a heavy user of prescription pills and was very
drunk at the time of her death. She apparently tried to hang herself
shortly before her death, but the cord broke causing her to bruise her head
on a coffee table. She then apparently started a fire by careless
smoking or perhaps deliberately. The state maintained that Maloney hit
her on the head, strangled her, and then set a fire that was staged to look
like the result of careless smoking.

Special prosecutor, Joe Paulus (DA of Winnebago County),
withheld evidence. Initially the fire was labeled an accident but
circular reasoning developed: “The fire guys decided it must be an
arson because it was murder. The coroner decided it must be a murder
because it was arson.” (TruthInJustice)
(Article 2)
(Article 3) (48
Hours) [11/05]

Newfoundland, Canada

Ronald Dalton

Aug 16, 1988 (Gander)

Ronald Dalton was convicted of the
strangulation murder his wife Brenda. Dalton got a retrial because forensic
evidence indicated that Brenda choked to death on dry cereal. At his
retrial in 2000, Dalton was acquitted. (IB)
(FJDB) [1/07]

England (Stafford CC)

Ryan James

Jan 13, 1994

Ryan James was convicted of the murder of his
39-year-old wife, Sandra James. Sandra died from drinking a glass of orange juice that contained a fatal dose of immobilon, a horse tranquilizer. Ryan, a veterinarian, had access to the drug. He also been having an
affair with another woman, Catherine Crooks. The lovers had left their
spouses to live together, but the cost of running two homes drove Ryan back
to his wife.

Sandra's death
would have allowed Ryan to start a new life with Catherine on the proceeds
of a £180,000 life insurance policy. Besides these proceeds,
£143,000 in debts were wiped out by Sandra's death. At trial, Ryan's
defense argued that Sandra had committed suicide, but made it look like
murder. However, the crown argued that it was murder made to look like
a suicide. Ryan was sentenced to life in prison. His trial
judge,
Justice Anthony Hidden, told him he was “the most evil, selfish, and
criminally callous man” he had ever sentenced.

While in prison
Ryan married Catherine, who never believed he killed his wife. While
going through her new husband's belongings, Catherine found a handwritten
note stuffed inside one of Ryan's professional journals. It was in
Sandra's handwriting and said, “Ryan, I leave you absolutely nothing but
this note – if you find it in time, Sam.” Sam was Sandra's pet name. Because the note indicated suicidal intent, Ryan's conviction was quashed in
1998 and he was released from prison. There was some additional
evidence that Sandra was depressed. She had taken anti-depressants in
the 1970s. At the time of Sandra's death there were puncture wounds
in her foot. It was alleged that she had experimented with the
immobilon drug by injecting it into her foot, then injecting herself with
the antidote shortly thereafter. (Innocent)
[10/08]

China

She Xianglin

Convicted 1994

After having an argument with him, She Xianglin's wife, Zhang
Zaiyu, went missing. Several weeks later police found the body of an
unidentified woman in a local pond. Police interrogated Xianglin for 10
days, during which he was also tortured. Xianglin confessed to murdering
his wife and was sentenced to death. His sentence was later reduced to 15
years imprisonment, after a higher court in the province (Hubei) overturned
the verdict due to lack of evidence. Several of Xianglin's family members
were also jailed for advocating his innocence or claiming that they saw
Zhang alive after the authorities alleged she was dead. In March 2005,
Zhang turned up alive and had merely run away from her marriage. She had
remarried in a remote village in eastern Shandong province, unaware of the
fate of her former husband. Xianglin was released. One of the officers who
allegedly took part in Xianglin's torture hanged himself when authorities
began an investigation into the incident. Xianglin and several family
members were awarded 450,000 Yuan ($55,500) for wrongs committed against
them. (FJDB)
[12/06]

Australia (WA)

Rory Christie

Nov 15, 2001

Rory Christie was convicted of the murder of his wife, Susan
Christie. He was charged nearly a year after her disappearance. On retrial
he was judicially acquitted because the evidence was insufficient to convict
him. (IPWA)
(Christie
v. The Queen) (Regina
v. Christie)